


pieces that are sacrificed in every game of chess

by Anonymous



Series: Various Discord Server Fics [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Skyrates pensive, am i allowed to do this, yeah it’s a Hamilton reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25282489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Nowhere is a ground-colony, a military base, and it is hell on earth.He’s told what is expected of him. He is to be their weapon. He is to order humans to their deaths.Humans, after all, are pests. He is capable of murdering them in the dozens. It’s horrible, the day they tell him what he is supposed to do.He says no. He says he wants to leave.They don’t let him say anything for a while, after that.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Various Discord Server Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031769
Comments: 16
Kudos: 24
Collections: Anonymous, Skyrates from Knowhere





	pieces that are sacrificed in every game of chess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Spaghettoi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaghettoi/gifts).



> yo Ghet if you didn’t want your work to be referenced lmk I’ll happily take it down but you said chess pieces and also blame and my mind went brrrr so I

“They’ll want you,” Athens says, hands tight around his. “I can tell.”

He laughs at her. She’s only been back an hour, and all she can talk about is the Programme. “Leave it, Athens,” he says. “They don’t want me.”

Her uniform shines under the sun. Below their feet, Erie shudders in the sky. “Haven,” she whispers. “Hank. They’ll want you. You have to say no.”

“No?” He frowns. “But you -“

She closes her eyes. “Please. You’re not cut out for it. No,” and she laughs, and he doesn’t think he’s ever heard her so upset before. “You’re too cut out for it.”

“You’re overthinking, Athens,” he says. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

And she doesn’t.

When she leaves, it is the last he will see of her.

~

People are chess pieces. 

He doesn’t know how to play chess.

~

His powers only grow. He learns to keep his mouth shut. And Athens was right, in the end. 

He’s eighteen when they visit Erie, he’s eighteen when their recruiter takes one look at his ability and demands he enlist.

He’s poor. He’s hungry. Tending to Erie’s farms can only give him so much, and so he enlists in the Programme. Maybe he’ll get to see Athens, one more time.

~

Nowhere is a ground-colony, a military base, and it is hell on earth.

He’s told what is expected of him. He is to be their weapon. He is to order humans to their deaths. 

Humans, after all, are pests. He is capable of murdering them in the dozens. It’s horrible, the day they tell him what he is supposed to do.

He says no. He says he wants to leave. 

They don’t let him say anything for a while, after that.

~

They send him out with a squadron. He is nineteen years old. He marches with the ground soldiers, blank-eyed as the human pack approaches.

They don’t get to fire a single shot. He opens his mouth and orders them to run. It works - the powered that chase them are not used to the terrain, and the humans are long gone before the general can shut him up.

He screams, that night, and they threaten to do worse than hurt him. 

It was worth it, saving them, saving lives.

Was it?

~

No.

~

He is twenty, and a human city goes up in flames, and it is his fault and it isn’t the last.

~

He falls asleep of his own accord, now. It’s painless.

He is a coward.

Is it worth it?

~

He runs.

~

For a very long time.

~

_your name? she asks._

_havok, he says. it’s what they called him. she doesn’t know. she smiles._

_saph._

~

People are chess pieces.

He rather thinks of himself as the king, useless in battle, but good at sitting on the sidelines and letting everyone else to the work. People move in premeditated chunks around him, or avoid him entirely. 

Are they pawns, to him? Is Saph the queen? Is Ollie the bishop, Ray the knight, Kat the rook, Fizz-Ashley-IB-Lanie-Maya-Ghet-

~

He’s lost track of the years, but he’s probably twenty two, and Ghet has just been shot.

His mouth tastes like blood. It isn’t his. Kat is shouting. Ashley runs up from the basement.

Ghet screams. 

The ship tears away from its moorings. Saph is at the helm, strong as always, and when Havok bursts onto the bridge she spares him no thought.

He collapses into the nav chair. She does it all, saving them, and even when they’re home free she doesn’t take her eyes off the sky.

Havok holds his head in his hands and tries uselessly not to cry.

They won’t starve, now. They won’t die, now. He’s done that much. 

He did nothing except get his family hurt.

He feels, in that moment, like it would be best to sew his mouth shut and never come out of his room again. Ghet has been shot. Ghet has been shot. Ghet might die. Ghet - he - 

Why does he care? For his own conscience? For Ghet’s sake? 

Somehow, it’s always about him.

He’s a coward. 

When Saph asks if he’s alright, his jaw clenches itself shut.

~

_I am the captain. I am the captain. I am the captain._

_My ship, no one else’s._

_My fault, no one else’s._

~

People are chess pieces. 

~

Havok’s good at chess, by now.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [click, boom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888536) by [The_Crab_Overlord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Crab_Overlord/pseuds/The_Crab_Overlord)




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